Ruby on Rails Creator Disses Ballmer, Microsoft

Adding to the recent chatter comparing Microsoft to Apple in terms of market cap and industry love, Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) has written a scathing post dissing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and calling for co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates to return to the company.

Adding to the recent chatter comparing Microsoft to Apple in terms
of market cap and industry love, Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier
Hansson (DHH) has written a scathing post dissing Microsoft CEO Steve
Ballmer and calling for co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates to return
to the company.
In a June 4 post entitled "You couldn't pay me to work for Ballmer,"
Hansson notes that he has never been a Microsoft fan, "Not even when I
was using Windows (that I begrudgingly moved to after the Amiga)," he
added. "But at least you used to have some awe and respect for the
gorilla that was Microsoft. Bill Gates might have been an evil genius,
but at least he was a genius."

Apparently Hansson wishes for a more formidable opponent for the
continually growing band of Web developers that have formed around his
creation. He calls Ballmer pitiable and pathetic.

As opposed to Gates, Hansson said: "Now contrast this to Steve
Ballmer. Who's certainly no genius and calling him evil is to belittle
evil. He has turned the gorilla into a buffoon. And frankly, it's sad.
Gone are the feelings of rage (except when they patent troll people for
being Web apps) and left is pity."
Hansson then includes video clips of both Ballmer and Apple's Steve Jobs speaking at the recent D8 conference.
In his comparison, Hansson says, "Jobs is lucid and reasoned. Ballmer
is... Hell, I don't even know how to describe it. He's all over the
place. No clear definitions, just randomly running his mouth. Compared
to Jobs, I think it's charitable to call him pathetic."
Pathetic is not a word to describe Steve Ballmer. And Hansson's
charts comparing Gates' years versus Ballmer's versus Jobs' is
misleading. The Gates versus Ballmer eras cover different periods in
the industry and different economic times. And while Jobs has done a
great job with Apple since his return, honestly, the company had
nowhere to go but up, as one commenter pointed out.
Indeed, the comments themselves are telling in how many in the
industry view Ballmer and Microsoft. Yet, one must consider the source,
as folks who follow DHH are not as likely to be fans of Microsoft in
the first place.
However, one commenter who identified himself as "TechBoy" and says
he is a Microsoft employee, correctly notes that Ballmer is quite
intelligent. Said TechBoy:

"Ballmer is very smart, IQ wise. But that hasn't helped him become
an effective CEO who could steer MS into the next era. He is good at
riling up the troops and inspiring them. But the inspiration fades
quickly because execution is poor. MS is always playing catch-up, even
in the glory days (with a few minor exceptions). He talks about
innovation endlessly but either he doesn't understand the meaning of
the word or he thinks he's fooling everyone because MS doesn't have a
track record of innovation like other well known companies."

The man has a degree in economics and math from Harvard and he
attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is
surely not pathetic. Microsoft's shareholders and board of directors
have put their confidence in Ballmer. And despite missteps in certain
areas such as mobile and others, he continues to deliver based on
Microsoft's longstanding flagship products.
TechBoy sums Ballmer up pretty well, saying:

"At heart he's a business/numbers kind of guy. His sweet spot is
turning a few knobs and switches on the internal sales machine and
making it hum. During MS's rise in the 90's, he lead the build up of
the internal sales force and built MS into a credible enterprise class
company. And he thought that would be enough. He couldn't foresee
technological trends soon enough and so MS is playing catch up in so
many areas. And he's also risk averse."

Meanwhile, several commenters said they would like to see Ray Ozzie
at the helm of Microsoft. That is just not going to happen. Primarily
because it is not clear that he even wants the job. And, if he did,
it's not clear if he has enough supporters in the company to propel him
to the position. A more likely candidate would be another
"business/numbers guy," like Kevin Turner,
the Wizard of Wal-Mart, who is Microsoft's chief operating officer. But
I don't want this to turn into a list of who might succeed Ballmer.
Hansson is slated to take the stage at RailsConf 2010
in Baltimore, the annual event for Ruby on Rails developers, to deliver
a keynote on June 8. We shall see if he uses that platform to take more
shots at Ballmer. Whatever he says, DHH never fails to entertain as
well as inform.
Meanwhile, Hansson ended his Ballmer post with: "It matters who's at
the top. It sets the company tone. Microsoft is undoubtedly full of
very smart people, but as long as they are being run by Steve Ballmer,
they're going to be shackled by his ineptitude. I wish Microsoft had
their evil genius back."

Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.